This is a discussion on F1 2010 talk / results etc ..all in here within the Motorsports Talk forums, part of the Community - Meet other Enthusiasts category; Red Bull looks dominant again.
I think Massa has jumped the shark....

Mark Webber put himself in the frame for a first victory of the 2010 Formula One season by claiming pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Although the Australian had a similar advantage in Malaysia, where he left the door open for team-mate Sebastian Vettel to pass him into turn one, Webber will take extra heart from the fact that the last nine Spanish GPs have been won from top spot on the grid. He will, however, take note of the fact that no polesitter has yet won a race in 2010....

Qualifying was always going to be about Red Bull and the rest and, having seen Vettel set a scorching pace in morning practice, most observers expected the German to do the same when it mattered in the knock-out session. However, it was Webber who set the pace throughout qualifying, topping the first two phases and then seeming to be able to better his team-mate with each run in the third.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton disappointed after late exit from Spanish Grand Prix, but adds he will 'keep his chin-up'.
2008 F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has confirmed that a 'failure on the left-front corner' of his McLaren MP4-25 was too blame for his retirement on the penultimate lap of the Spanish Grand Prix today.

Hamilton, who had managed to jump Sebastian Vettel at the first pit-stops, and who was running comfortably second, saw his race come to an abrupt end when a suspected rim failure sent him into the turn three tyre barrier with less than two laps to go.

Although he escaped unharmed, and remains positive, it is still a blow to his championship aspirations. Indeed it leaves him 21 points off his team-mate, Jenson Button, who remains top heading to Monte Carlo and who finished fifth in Barcelona.

"Today, I was looking good to split the Red Bulls, and it would have been perfect for us in both world championships if I could have finished second this afternoon," Hamilton said. "I was just nursing the car to the finish line, then I suddenly felt the steering go, and then there was immediately a failure on the left-front corner.

"I didn't sense anything odd before the accident – the car was feeling great – so that's why it was such a surprise. We don't know what went wrong, but we'll take everything back to the McLaren Technology Centre [Woking, Surrey, UK] and work to find out.

"I think I drove a good race. I couldn't keep up with Mark [Webber] on my second set of tyres, but I was able to get past Sebastian [Vettel] as I came out of the pits. I have to say, there were problems with some of the backmarkers today – it felt like we were lapping some of them four or five times – and some of them were very bad at getting out of the way. I appreciate that it's not always easy for the backmarkers, and I know from the first half of last year what it's like to be lapped, but some of them were slowing on the racing line, and in fact I nearly collided with a couple of them when they did that. It was quite difficult at times, because there was such a big speed difference. I guess it may be more difficult still at Monaco.

"But, going back to today, I'm absolutely gutted that my accident happened so close to the finish of the race – but that's motor racing. The guys did an incredible job all weekend, though. There are many more races to go this season, and I'll keep my chin up. I know we can still fight for this championship."

McLaren boss, Martin Whitmarsh meanwhile added that the precise cause of the failure has still to be determined, although post-race he told the BBC that a rim failure was the likely issue, not a puncture.

"For Lewis, it was just one of those days," Whitmarsh stated. "He drove brilliantly – an impressively disciplined yet excitingly combative performance – and posted the fastest lap of the race, nearly half a second quicker than the next-best lap, on his way to what would have been a richly deserved second place had he not been forced to retire within spitting distance of the chequered flag.

"We'll now gather up the parts, take them back to the McLaren Technology Centre, and then analyse them meticulously – so, until we've done that, we won't really be able to make any definitive statements about what we think it was that caused the problem at the left-front corner of his car.

"Naturally enough, all of us at McLaren Mercedes feel a little disappointed to have lost 18 world championship points at the 11th hour today, but there are nonetheless a lot of positives we can take from the weekend. We showed strong race pace today, we're still leading both the drivers' world championship and the constructors' world championship, and the next grand prix is at Monaco, which McLaren has won no fewer than 15 times – significantly more than any other team in F1 history. We'll be racing on the famous streets of the Principality in just a few days' time, and you can be well sure that we'll be doing everything in our power to add to our win tally there."

Michael Schumacher was disappointed following the Spanish Grand Prix today, even if he did achieve his best result since opting to come out of retirement and return to the sport with Mercedes.

Schumacher, who had been out-performed in the four opening F1 2010 races by his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, definitely had the upper hand in Barcelona. Indeed he qualified ahead and had a much better race, jumping current F1 championship leader Jenson Button at the first round of pit-stops and then keeping the Brit at bay to retain fifth.

Then on the penultimate lap the record-breaking multiple F1 world champion gained another spot when Lewis Hamilton retired. While fourth was a solid result though, Schumacher conceded that the gap to the Red Bull's is a real worry.

"It was quite an entertaining race right from the start even if we knew from the beginning that there would not be a chance for us to compete for a podium place if everything goes as normal. Still it was exciting for me to manage to keep the position that I gained but then, I am obviously not too happy as today we could only defend," Schumacher said.

"All we could do was to hope for reliability problems of others in order to make up positions and that's not really what you want to do. It was an interesting fight with Jenson but all I could do is try to not give him a possibility to overtake. In the end the gap to the front is just too big to be really happy after this race."

Pioneered by McLaren-Mercedes and since copied by Ferrari, the controversial F-duct aerodynamic device will be banned from F1 in 2011 following Fernando Alonso's one-handed driving in the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona...

The contentious, McLaren-Mercedes pioneered F-duct aerodynamic innovation is to be banned from F1 in 2011 following an overwhelming vote against it from the other teams – after Fernando Alonso's one-armed driving in the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend raised concerns both about the system's safety and that it might trigger an expensive new 'arms race' in the top flight in an era of overriding cost-cutting.

Operated by drivers alternately blocking and unblocking a hole inside the ****pit with either their hand or their knee, the F-duct – which cleverly circumvented the regulation that F1 cars may carry no moveable aerodynamic appendages – diverts air flow to reduce drag and thereby improve straight-line speed.

However, after Ferrari introduced their own rather more radical and potentially dangerous interpretation of the concept in Barcelona, double world champion Alonso was seen manually opening and closing the air vent whilst out on the track – thereby meaning the Spaniard had only one hand on the steering wheel at speeds of up to 200mph, and when adjusting his brake bias with his other hand, no hands at all.

Whilst the Oviedo native downplayed any fears that he was not in full control of his car – insisting that he is able to close the hole through a pad sewn into his left glove and that 'this method is now automatic' – during a Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) meeting at the Circuit de Catalunya on Sunday, McLaren was unable to successfully persuade its fellow competitors that the F-duct should stay.

“It is a clever piece of engineering and hats off to the guys who invented it,” Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner told Reuters, “but some of the solutions this weekend look a bit marginal when you see drivers driving with fingertips and no hands. I think there is a safety issue and a cost issue to take into account – and the majority voted through not to have it next year.”

“By the end of this year I know that we – and I'm sure most of the other teams – will have an F-duct on the car and I'm sure that just neutralises the advantage of having it,” added Mercedes Grand Prix CEO Nick Fry, who advocated the need for similar non road-relevant developments in F1 to be 'nipped in the bud'. “I think on the F-duct in particular there are other ideas that one can come up with and that the engineers have already come up with which are even zanier than that.

“When I look at some of the things our engineers have come up with and which on the face of it apply the same principles, they are zany in the extreme and it is difficult to see how they would be used elsewhere – plus they would be expensive. I know it's disappointing for those that invent these ideas, but I think what people have got to get used to is that, like the double-diffuser, they may be fairly short-lived. If it isn't a useful technology then it comes off; what we should be encouraging is stuff that we can use elsewhere.”

The double-diffuser was contentiously introduced by Mercedes' predecessor Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams at the beginning of last season, and played a significant role in the former's early dominance and ultimately title-winning run. The device was officially declared legal by governing body the FIA in April – but by then the Brackley-based outfit had already pulled just too far out of reach to be caught. Double-diffusers have likewise been outlawed from next year onwards.

The FIA reveals that changes have occurred in Monaco ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix

The FIA has revealed that it has made changes to the two chicanes at the Monaco circuit ahead of the sixth round of the F1 season this weekend.

New higher elements have been added behind the existing kerbs at the Nouvelle Chicane on the exit of the tunnel and at the Swimming Pool Chicane in an effort to reduce the possibility of drivers cutting the corners.

As well as installing new debris fencing at various sections of the circuit, there has also been extensive resurfacing work carried out including the run from St Devote up to the junction of the Avenue de Monte Carlo and the pitlane.

Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button predict that the discrepancies in lap times between F1 2010's fastest and slowest runners could wreak havoc in this weekend's Monaco Grand Prix - a race McLaren is bidding to win for an incredible 16th time...

The most recent two F1 World Champions and McLaren-Mercedes team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button have warned that the discrepancy in lap times between the sport's fastest and slowest competitors could generate 'a nightmare' in qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend – and 'a disaster' in the race.

The topic of traffic around the tightest and most tortuous circuit on the calendar has been much-debated of late, with the notion of a split-qualifying session or a Q1 devoted entirely to the three new teams discussed and subsequently dismissed [see separate story – click here].

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh has acknowledged that there will likely be 'controversy', with 'more cars and a greater performance differential between them this year...the drivers of the slower cars will presumably go round staring in their mirrors' [see separate story – click here].

The prospect of a number of big names falling at the first hurdle in qualifying in the Principality is far from beyond the realms of possibility, and from the back of the grid in Monte Carlo – where overtaking possibilities are famously at a premium – a long afternoon indeed tends to lie in store. What's more, the six-to-seven seconds a lap currently separating the likes of McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari from Lotus, Virgin and Hispania has raised safety concerns when all 24 cars are on-track at the same time in the grand prix.

Having had a close call himself with the Virgin machine of F1 rookie Lucas Di Grassi as he exited his pit-stop in last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona – whilst duelling with Red Bull rival Vettel over second place – Hamilton lamented the 'terrible' and 'really dangerous' approach from the backmarkers.

“The backmarkers were really not doing a spectacular job,” railed the 25-year-old, speaking to Reuters. “I don't know what the hell he (Di Grassi) was doing there. It wasn't very safe. I had to go left around him and Vettel was going right; it could have been a lot worse than it was. It's very difficult when there is such a big difference. I lapped Di Grassi four times in Spain – that's one of the biggest gaps I've had in Formula 1.

“When you approach a backmarker maybe twice in a race it's not such a big problem, but you catch them so quick, it's just unreal. When you see them you are second-guessing where they will move out of the way, and then they move into the wrong position. They'll go on the inside and be in the corner as you come up to them, so it gets quite tricky. So far, fortunately, there have been no incidents and it has been okay, but Monaco will be very tough. It could be a disaster.”

“When they are fighting for 20th place, they don't want to let you past,” concurred compatriot, title-winning successor and fellow Monaco Grand Prix-winner Button, who opined that traffic this weekend will likely 'be a nightmare' as he 'didn't think the backmarkers did a very good job in Spain'. “They are so much slower than us, and if you are behind them for four or five corners you have lost seconds. I know they want to race, but the important thing is that they let us past.”

Fernando Alonso got his Monaco Grand Prix off to a solid start, topping the timesheets in his Ferrari ahead of the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel and the Renault of Robert Kubica.

With plenty more rubber set to go down on the surface of the track before qualifying and differing fuel loads in the cars, the times should be seen as a cursory guide rather than a confirmation of the cars' form. However, it does appear as though the Red Bull's are a little less comfortable on the tight and twisty 2 mile circuit, with Webber - fourth fastest - making mistakes on a heavy fuel load while Vettel's car was very out of shape at some points.

Kubica was also working hard behind the wheel and looks likely to mix it with the top eight this weekend, as the aerodynamic deficiencies of his Renault are masked by the Monaco circuit. In fifth, Felipe Massa looked more comfortable with his car than in recent weeks, sliding it from corner to corner and holding the No. 1 spot early in the session.

Michael Schumacher set the sixth fastest time and was again ahead of his team-mate Nico Rosberg. Mercedes has brought its shorter wheelbase chassis to Monaco - used in the opening rounds of the season - but despite scoring two podiums with it in Malaysia and China, Rosberg spent most of his morning making adjustments in the garage.

The McLarens of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton traded fastest times during the first hour, but settled into heavy fuel runs in the final 30 minutes to finish seventh and eighth. They were ahead of Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Buemi, who rounded out the top ten and were the last of the drivers to get within a second of Alonso's time.

It was a tough session for the rookies as they tried to get to grips with the track while staying out of the way of faster cars. Karun Chandhok's morning lasted just six laps before he lost the rear end heading into Casino Square and scraped his rear wing along the barrier. There was no major damage but the mistake prevented him playing any further part in the session.

More dramatic, was Kamui Kobayashi's crash at the Swimming Pool that saw him understeer over the kerbing, take flight, and bury the front of his car in the barriers. He was able to get back to the pits but Sauber will have plenty of work to do to get the car ready for free practice two this afternoon.

In the wake of the USF1 calamity, another American group has signalled its intention to race in formula one next year.

Cypher Group confirmed on Thursday that it has submitted a "letter of interest" about obtaining the 13th and final spot on the 2011 grid.

The company said it consists of "experienced F1 engineers, designers and businessmen" whose objective "is to create a successful US-based F1 team".

Cypher said it "recognises the significant challenges" of building a team in a short amount of time and will therefore "utilise 'best of breed' components throughout the car".

"In support of this strategy Cypher is in contact with established manufacturers of formula one racing cars and components," the outfit added.

"Our aims are ultimately to be competitive and provide unrivalled access and interaction for our supporters whilst maintaining high standards of integrity and values, alongside creative out of the box thinking."

Cypher clarified that it has not yet lodged a formal entry to compete next year.

The outfit said it will only do so "should we achieve fully the budget we believe is necessary to do this properly.

"We are not in this to embarrass America, the fans or ourselves. We simply want to give America the shot it deserves."

The entry date for 2011 has already passed but who cares? They are Americans...

vBulletin Message

Errors

The following errors occurred with your submission

Quick Reply

Register Now

Please enter the name by which you would like to log-in and be known on this site.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Email Address:

Please enter a valid email address for yourself. We strongly suggest that you stay away from using aol, yahoo, msn, and hotmail accounts. Sometimes the mail server blocks the emails from our server. As a result you will not receive any notifications including the confirmation email.

Insurance:

Please select your insurance company (Optional)

Log-in

User Name:

Password:

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.